


Sunuaf Belladonna

by HatsuneNiko, IzettaVonEylstadt



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mutants, Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/F, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-06-06 00:04:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15182315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HatsuneNiko/pseuds/HatsuneNiko, https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzettaVonEylstadt/pseuds/IzettaVonEylstadt
Summary: Humanity fears the faunus for many reasons - better hearing, sight, strength...not to mention the animal parts. But they are truly frightening when they drain a human of their blood - becoming a Sanguine Faunus.Vampire-Faunus AU. Pollination - No Enabler, Monochrome Focus.





	1. What did she just say?

**Author's Note:**

> So I was watching Hellsing Ultimate when I had an idea...I'll admit, I'm a fan of the whole vampire thing, particularly the whole...conversion bit. 
> 
> So take the faunus, add vampire lore, add xmen-esque mutant story bits and...here you go. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy! -IzettaVonEylstadt

“Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!”

 

Weiss recoiled from her teammate, stumbling over herself and falling to the floor. Blake’s expression quickly morphed from one of anger to horror and regret. “I....I..” she stuttered. What could the faunus woman possibly say here? Everything she had built up over the last year was destroyed in an instant.

 

The stunned faunus belatedly realized that Weiss had scrambled to her feet and was halfway across the room. She ripped Myrtenaster from its case and leveled it at Blake, trying to calm her breathing and steady her shivering arm. “Don’t you dare move, Belladonna.” What now – call the police? Call Ozpin? Make a citizen’s arrest and tie her up?

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by Yang, who roughly disarmed Weiss and pinned her arm behind her back. “Cool it, Ice Queen,” Yang growled, eyes red. “That’s my partner you’re threatening.”

 

“Partner?! You mean FAUNUS,” Weiss screeched. “Don’t you know what that means??”

 

“Weiss…please calm down…” Ruby begged. “Calm down and I’m sure Blake can explain everything, right Blake?” Ruby turned to look at the motionless woman. “Blake…?”

 

The faunus dissolved – it was just a clone. The trio looked around the room, trying to figure out where she was. The slightly ajar door told them everything they needed to know – Blake was gone.

 

Weiss pulled herself free and rounded on Yang. “Look what you did! You let her escape! I’m going to call Vale Police.” Weiss sat on her bed and pulled out her scroll.

 

“Weiss! Why did…why are you so angry??” Ruby asked, grabbing her partner’s arms.

 

“Don’t you understand what she said? She’s a faunus! A member of the White Fang!”

 

Yang slammed her fist into the wall, nearly knocking straight though into JNPR’s room. “You don’t know what it meant, you ignorant bitch! You freaked out and scared her away before she could even explain herself!”

 

“Bitch? H-how dare you!?”

 

Yang pushed herself nose to nose with the offended woman. “Yeah, that’s right. You’re a bit-"

 

A deafening blast went off in the room, prompting both women to hit the deck. Crescent Rose’s barrel smoked in the aftermath of being fired into the ceiling. “Both of you, stop it. Please!” Ruby begged. She hated getting serious but this was clearly time for Adult Ruby. “Weiss. Please explain. What’s wrong with the faunus? Who cares if she’s a faunus?”

 

Weiss dusted herself off with an indignant huff. “How do neither of you know anything about the faunus?”

 

“We grew up on Patch…there aren’t many people there to begin with. There were a few faunus at Signal but no one ever reacted like….like that!” Ruby gestured vaguely at Myrtenaster on the floor. “Velvet seems to get along well with her team! She and Coco seem to be very good friends...”

 

“The faunus are dangerous and violent,” Weiss began, earning herself a glare from Yang. “They’re mutated humans. Eons ago, a village of humans near a dust mine suffered a major accident. A massive earthquake destroyed most of the mine and village, opening a fissure deep into the earth. Supposedly, a special kind of dust existed below. When it billowed out, the villagers were altered, changed down to their DNA.

 

“What came out was a group of mutants. Improved eyesight, hearing, reflexes, and strength. They even grew animal parts. But worst of all, they thirst for human blood.”

 

Ruby and Yang stared dumbfounded at Weiss. Yang spoke up first. “Are you insane? What are they, vampires? None of the faunus we’ve seen are….supernatural monsters!”

 

“Seriously, how do you not know this? I’m not making this up!” Weiss threw her arms up in the air – did these two live under a rock? “All faunus are stronger and have many advantages over humans, but they don’t unlock their true power....until they’ve drained a human of their blood. Once they do that, they become an even stronger being - a Sanguine Faunus.”

 

“Weiss is actually correct,” said a voice. Pyrrha hesitantly poked her head into team RWBY’s room. “They are technically mutants. And they can drink blood, but most of them don’t.”

 

“AND they can turn you into one of them!” Again, Ruby and Yang couldn’t believe their ears. They quickly turned to look back at Pyrrha, who nodded.

 

“Yes, Sanguine Faunus can create a faunus thrall. However, faunus are no particular danger to humans, in general,” Pyrrha noted.

 

Ren appeared behind the champion warrior. “Nora and I lived beside faunus for years. They took us in after...when we were young.”

 

“Yeah! They’re great!” Nora added, vibrating with excitement as usual. “They could actually keep up with my hyperness!”

 

“They didn’t ‘turn’ us, they didn’t subjugate us, and they didn’t hurt us.” Ren calmly returned Weiss’ glare. “Faunus are no more dangerous than any human. There are almost none who have become a full fledged Sanguine Faunus, outside a handful in the White Fang. Most have been killed by hunters and huntresses.”

 

Weiss turned away from the rest of the room. “You don’t know what they’re capable of. They’ve been hurting me and my family for my entire life. The White Fang has killed my relatives, one by one. Dust shipments - hijacked. Employees and board members: slaughtered. SDC buildings: bombed! Father would come home furious after every White Fang attack….and it made for a very. difficult. childhood. I’ve lived my entire life in fear of the faunus...they’ve been a greater threat to my life than any grimm could ever be.”

 

Ruby tentatively placed her hand on Weiss’ shoulder. “Weiss…you’ve lived with...slept in the same room with Blake for the entire year. She’s done nothing to hurt you or any of us! She’s been there for us, and has put her life on the line to keep us safe. If faunus are as dangerous as you think…why would Blake do all that?”

 

“I don’t…I don’t know Ruby. But the White Fang is an organization that seeks to subjugate us all! They want us to be their slaves! Sanguine Faunus are basically _magical beings_. Their aura is twice as strong as ours, supernatural healing – they’re almost impossible to kill…” Weiss shook her head. “They’re terrifying, honestly. The White Fang wants to bring out this full potential of all faunus, and rule over humanity. We’d be nothing more than cattle.”

 

Pyrrha placed her hand on Weiss’ shoulder, trying to comfort the agitated woman. She could understand that the faunus were certainly intimidating beings. But after growing up around faunus in Mistral, it had been a long time since she had seen this kind of fear. “The Human-Faunus War only made things worse and radicalized the White Fang. We pushed them off to a far corner of Remnant, to dangerous and undesirable land. Elsewhere, they’re persecuted by our governments and people. Hatred of humanity is, frankly, understandable. The Schnee Dust Company is a logical target...for a number of reasons. But, Blake has been around us and supported us through hard times. Most faunus just want to live as freely as any human. Don’t make a judgement about her just yet.”

 

“Tomorrow, we’ll go out to find her. We’ll bring her back and we can talk this over as a team,” Ruby suggested.

 

“Erm..if you like, team JNPR can help look too,” Jaune offered, the rest of the team nodding eagerly. “Since all of us have experience living around faunus…we might be able to ’translate’.”

 

Weiss snatched Myrtenaster off the floor and roughly returned it to its case. “Fine,” she responded, keep her back to the group. “We’ll find her. And we’ll get an answer out of her.”

 

The group let out a slight sigh of relief - there was a chance of repairing the situation.

 

“Ahem. Team RWBY. Team JNPR,” said a cold voice at the door. Everyone in the room stiffened, bracing themselves to face the music. “Would any of you like to explain why there is a hole in your ceiling and a crack in your wall? And why you are making a racket at this hour of the night?”

 

Ruby was the first to respond. “H-hi! Professor Goodwitch! What- How- ...Lovely evening isn’t it? You look...lovely...uh….” she trailed off, withering under her intense gaze. “Ohhh...boy...we’re in trouble…”

* * *

Blake sped across the rooftops, quickly crossing the full Beacon campus, leaving a mist of tears in her wake. Gaining momentum, she took a full speed leap. For a few freeing moments, all she could hear was the roar of air around her and feel the wind in her hair. The citizens of Vale were unaware of the black clad shadow flying by overhead, occasionally using Gambol Shroud to alter her trajectory. She wasn’t entirely sure where she was going to go, but simply needed to put space between her and Beacon.

 

 _“I’ve ruined everything…and my past has caught up to me.”_ Blake thought to herself. _“What kind of future can I have now…?”_ Maybe it was time for Blake to return home, beg her parents for forgiveness, and take whatever punishment they saw fit. _“But would they ever forgive me after all I’ve done?”_

 

She landed silently on a tall building near the edge of the city. Dangling her feet off the side of the roof, she gazed up absently at the shattered moon.

 

Deep in her thoughts, Blake rid herself of her ever-present bow to reveal a pair of cat ears. Not only did she have to hide the two ears perched atop her head, but she also had to conceal the fact that she lacked ears on the sides of her head – she just counted herself lucky that she didn’t need glasses. _“I suppose there really aren’t any faunus out there that would need glasses…our vision doesn’t degrade.”_

 

She laid back onto the roof and shut her eyes, thinking back to the turning point in her life.

 

> Blake slid down the hill, leaving a billowing trail of red leaves in her wake. Adam led the way forward, launching into the air and landing heavily on the train passing below - the target for this mission. Get in, destroy the dust, leave the White Fang calling card, and exfil covertly.
> 
> Adam struck the heavy lock on the emergency hatch, easily breaking the hardened steel. The pair dropped into the train car, their eyes quickly adjusting to reveal...a battalion of Atlesian Military bots.
> 
> “Looks like we’re going to be doing this the hard way,” Adam grumbled.
> 
> “Don’t be so dramatic,” Blake quiped.
> 
> “INTRUDER, IDENTIFY YOURSELF,” warbled one bot.
> 
> Adam launched Wilt from Blush, denting the headpiece of the noisy bot. He flashed to catch Wilt midair, rending the soldier in two with a cross-body slash. Blake used her semblance to leave a clone and throw herself backward, whipping Gambol Shroud from its place on her back. The blind cut beheaded the enemy advancing behind her, allowing her to kick the headless body into the crowd. Before the torso projectile finished its destructive path through its mates, the cat faunus dashed forward, sliding low into the group. Separating Gambol Shroud into cleaver and katana, she made short work of the remaining foes. Adam cleared the way out of the car by kicking a knight clear though the door.
> 
> She and Adam exited the darkened train car, leaving nothing but a mess of worthless, broken mechanical parts. Alerted to their presence, another squad blocked their way forward. Fitting with his bull faunus nature, Adam charged forward, drawing their fire. Blake rolled her eyes, transforming her katana into ballistic kusarigama form. She deftly swung it around her partner, delivering bullet-propelled death blows left and right. Seconds later, she tugged her blade from the skull of the last Atlesian knight; the two were free to proceed once more.
> 
> They entered the armored car - the most expensive dust would be stored there. The crept forward quietly, expecting resistance. However, the car appeared to hold nothing more than the typical transportation crates bearing the Schnee crest.
> 
> Adam opened the lid of the nearest crate. “Perfect. Move up to the next car - I’ll set the charges.”
> 
> Blake nodded, but before she could respond, her sensitive ears picked up on the faint sound of servos turning. “Adam!”
> 
> A large mech dropped from the darkness, pointing four cannons at the two faunus. “Buy me some time!” Adam shouted, dashing backward.
> 
> “But-”
> 
> “Just do it!”
> 
> Blake sighed and activated her semblance, letting her power loose. Three clones of Blake stepped out from behind her - three perfect copies of Blake, except dark as the void. The giant mech jumped forward, bringing its massive leg down to crush the comparatively tiny faunus women. The three shadow Blakes soundlessly met the mech midair, kicking its center of mass. It stumbled back, fighting to keep its balance. Blake sighed and reached over to touch a shadow on the wall, melting into the darkness. From the shadows, she watched her clones bat the mech around like a toy. _“This must have been created specifically to fight faunus...probably a prototype. Of course the Schnees are working on something like this.”_
> 
> Sensing that Adam’s semblance was nearly ready, Blake quickly hid behind him. Her shadow doppelgangers took up position around him, taunting the mech. Seeing its foes grouped together, the mechanical creation brought its arms together to form an absurdly large cannon. Dust gathered in the barrel, letting lose a devastating ray toward the group of faunus. The Blakes faded away, leaving Adam standing alone, Wilt half drawn from Blush. The beam slammed into Wilt, pushing Adam several meters back. The white column of light disappeared into Wilt, fully absorbed by Adam’s semblance. The air around him crackled and his skin seemed to glow.
> 
> Confused by the disappearance of its strongest attack, the paladin switched to physical attacks, once again charging forward to crush Adam. He waited a beat for optimal range...before turning its power against it. The single slash left no trace of the mech, dust crates, and entire top half of the car.
> 
> Blake drew herself out of Adam’s shadow, listening intently for signs of incoming backup. While she heard nothing other than the rumbling of the train, there was no way the destruction of the armored car would go unnoticed. “Adam...we should bug out now. I think this might have been a set-up…”
> 
> “No Blake, our work isn’t done here. We’re going to drain every passenger on this train. The world needs to understand that we won’t stop, even if Schnee uses innocents as his shield. Humanity will not stand between us and our goals.” It was a common tactic of the Schnees to shield their cargo with innocent lives. “We need to silence everyone on this train. I could use a drink.”
> 
> “Adam, this will only hurt our cause! This won’t serve equality!”
> 
> “Humans are beneath us! They’re nothing but animals for us to eat. We’re stronger and better than humans in every way, yet they step all over us, murder and enslave our brothers and sisters. It is time for us to be in power now. The humans have had their time, the future belongs to the faunus. Hang them from racks, slit their necks, and bleed them dry. Equality isn’t enough, my darling, you know this.”

  _“I wish I had realized sooner that I was on the wrong path...that Adam wasn’t the man I thought he was…”_

 

The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention. Based on the sound of the footfalls, it was someone she had met once before.

 

“I knew you’d look better without that bow.” The blonde monkey faunus from before leapt onto the rooftop beside her. “I was surprised to see a fellow faunus hanging around the Schnee heiress! ...I could hear her insulting me as I ran by.”

 

Blake scoffed. “Really? I’m surprised you heard it, it looked like you were too busy winking at me,” she joked. “What’s your name?”

 

“Sun. Sun Wukong.” He reached out to shake hands.

 

“Blake…Belladonna. Your name sounds familiar…You’re a Sanguine Faunus aren’t you? How old are you?”

 

“Hmm pretty old…I think I lost track ages ago. You’re probably recognizing me from the Monkey King myths? I mean, it’s not like I’ve changed my name.” He shrugged, plopping down on the edge beside Blake. “How old are you?”

 

“About as old as I look,” she responded.

 

Sun carefully observed Blake’s reaction, and chose to move on from this topic.

 

“So what are you doing out here? I saw you fly by - you’re super fast! Tell me about yourself,” he suggested.

 

“My team, those three girls that were with me...found out that I’m a faunus...a faunus of the White Fang.”

 

Sun sat stunned for a moment. “Wow...let me guess, Schnee didn’t take that well?”

 

“...no. She didn’t. She must hate me now.” Blake wiped a tear from her eye. “My team won’t want to have anything to do with me anymore.”

 

Sun gently patted Blake on the back, searching for the right words to say. “Things will turn out okay, Blake...don’t worry.”

* * *

Weiss stirred in her bed, slowly waking up after a difficult night. She suffered nightmare after nightmare, of being murdered by Blake. She sluggishly sat up, dropping her head into her trembling hands. _“Blake wouldn't do that, right?”_ Weiss searched for a way to reconcile her feelings toward Blake and everything Father had told her about the faunus.

 

The most quiet and reserved member of team RWBY….observant and thoughtful...had a strong sense of justice...a valued teammate.

 

“The faunus have an unquenchable bloodlust. They won’t hesitate to drain you of your blood.”

_“But Blake hasn’t done anything like that...and she had every chance to…”_

 

“At best they want us to be their slaves. At worst, we’ll be their cattle.”

_“Blake has fiercely spoken out against slavery, of both humans and faunus...she would never be okay with any of  that.”_

 

“They are disgusting, ugly creatures.”

_“Blake isn’t ugly...far from it…”_

 

“All faunus are scum, liars, backstabbers, and criminals. You cannot trust these animals.”

_“And yet...somehow I do trust Blake. I trust her with my life….”_

 

“Stay away from them. Be a good girl and listen to your father. Remember - you’re nothing without me.”

_“I came to Beacon to make my own path...and yet here I am, being made a fool for the ideas he indoctrinated me with. Will I ever be free of his influence?”_

 

She raised her head, looking across the room at Blake’s bed, surprised to see Yang sitting on it. The blone’s lilac eyes observed the heiress with a guarded expression. Weiss shifted uncomfortably under her stoic gaze.

 

“Yang…” Weiss began, hoping her brain would supply the right words. “Any sign of her yet?”  


“No,” Yang replied simply.

 

“Look...Yang. I… I don’t think I did the right thing last night. I think I let my prejudice blind me, to the point I drew my weapon on our teammate. And I...I’m sorry.”

 

Yang looked taken aback, staring at Weiss like she grew a pair of fox ears. Ruby’s head popped into view over the edge of her suspended bed. “Oh my gosh Weiss, did you just apologize for something??!?”

 

She blinked surprised. “What? No...I was only trying to say….I mean to say that…”

 

Ruby crashed into Weiss with a flurry of rose petals. “Awwwww Weissss!”

 

She flailed her arms “Augh get off me this instant you dolt!”

 

Ruby let herself be thrown off Weiss’ bed onto the floor. “Okay! Let’s go find Blake!”


	2. Invite her in

Blake and Sun talked through the night, chatting about Vale and Vacuo. When morning came, they wandered their way into the faunus-friendly area of town, ending up at a small coffee shop. This particular shop was one of Blake’s favorite places to go ; i t was cozy and warm, the bookshelves that lined the walls were packed full of books, and the tea was imported from Menagerie.

Sun was attending Haven Academy of Mistral to fill his time. In his early days he was revered by the people of his homeland as a deity, but he lost interest in that life fairly quickly. As his existence quickly became legend, he chose to spend most of his days protecting people from various threats - grimm and more. Hanging around a huntsman academy seemed like the ideal place for him. 

“So you’re going to participate in the tournament?” 

“Yeah! That’s the plan, anyway. My boyfriends aren’t keen on fighting other people,” Sun shrugged. “They’re a bunch of divas,” he added fondly. “I’ll be hanging back mostly, to keep things fair.”

“And they know you’re a sanguine faunus? They’re okay with that?” 

“Well...yeah! I asked them about it before we all started dating. I sort of figured that I should,  by that point.” 

Blake sipped her tea, deep in thought. She had yet to see a human respond well to a sanguine faunus - people were simply too afraid of them. There just might be a chance for her to salvage her relationship with her team. But, even with that small  glimmer of hope, there was still  a vast shadow looming over her chance at reconciliation . 

“So do you think that the White Fang is behind all these dust robberies? The local cops chased me down because they thought I robbed those stores! But I literally just arrived in Vale!”

Blake shook her head. “They were arresting any faunus they saw near the store...they have no leads, no evidence that a faunus was involved at all. When Ruby stopped a recent dust robbery, there wasn’t a single faunus among them! It was just Roman Torchwick and a bunch of thugs.” 

“So, it’s likely the same group of people,” Sun concluded.

“That would make sense to me. The White Fang has never needed that much dust before. Usually, we simply intercepted Schnee Dust Company shipments, to hurt the company. But, if the White Fang were involved in something this big...it can’t be good.”

Blake stared deep into her cup of tea.  _ “The White Fang are here in Vale. An operation this big, he’ll be there. He’s coming for me. He’s coming for me. He’s-”  _ The glass in Blake’s hands shattered, dousing the table is hot tea. Sun shouted in surprise, toppling his chair over backwards. The shadows around Blake writhed, the edges of her body blurred. 

“Blake!” Sun rushed to her side, hovering anxiously. “Are you okay?” He grabbed her by the shoulders and wrapped his tail around her waist.  _ “No idea what’s going on but it looks like she’s going to split apart!”  _ He thought to himself.

At the contact, Blake instinctively threw Sun off of her and dove into the nearest shadow, dissolving into the darkness. The rest of the faunus patronage backed fearfully away from the commotion, realizing immediately what these faunus were. 

Sun raised his hands in the air and  declared “Woah woah, don’t worry everyone! She’s just a little scared, don’t worry. We’re new to the area, from Menagerie - not the White Fang!” 

Most of the faunus visibly relaxed - Sanguine faunus mostly lived on the island, away from humans who might act out of fear. Sun walked over the the chair that Blake disappeared under and awkwardly squatted and whispered, “It’s okay, Blake! Sorry for touching you, I shouldn’t have done that without asking.” 

Blake forced herself to breathe, going through an exercise she learned. She crawled out of the shadow and returned to her seat, her hands and face sweaty.  _ “And now everyone knows about me.”  _

The cafe owner emerged from the back of the cafe and walked over. “Hi, Blake. Are you okay?”

“Yes..sorry Yukina, I was having a bit of a panic attack...if you’d like me to leave, I will.”

She gently shook her head. “Don’t worry Blake, no one here is going to share your secret. Most of us...could tell from the start.” She gestured around at the customers who continued on as normal. “But we know that here in Vale, we need to look out for our own. Anyone  who gets to know  you can tell you’re a good person.” She gave Blake a short smile and turned. “Come to the office for a bit. Someone will clean the table.”

Blake stood slowly, following the white-haired faunus through the narrow spaces between seats and tables. The squeezed around a stack of books and a large cabinet to reveal a door to a small office. Inside, there was a cat faunus sitting at the desk, typing away at a scroll. 

“Blake, this is my wife Haruka.” The brown-haired cat faunus looked up, her feline ears flicking curiously. 

“Hello! Nice to meet you!” She stood and leaned over the table to shake their hands. A short brown tail flicked out to help her balance when she tried to right herself. 

Blake’s eyebrows shot up. “You…!” 

Haruka laughed nervously. “Ah..yeah. I am hers.” She nodded to the fox faunus. 

Yukina raised her hands preemptively. “I assure you it was her choice. I did not turn her into a thrall against her will. I make it no secret what we are, at least when it comes to other faunus.”

Blake chewed on her lip. “Why would you choose to become a thrall?” 

“It wasn’t a hard choice. She would long outlive me...I love her too much to leave her behind like that,” she responded easily.

“If you need any help from us, don’t hesitate to ask. You’re clearly new to...this.”  Yukina accompanied the statement with a vague gesture of her hand.

Blake and Sun returned to their table, cleaned with a new cup of tea waiting. She sat and returned to staring down into the amber liquid. 

Sun looked around awkwardly, fiddling with his nap kin. “I’v e never created a thrall...it never seemed like the right thing to do.”

“It was always considered a taboo. The laws of Menagerie explicitly disallow it. The restrictions on us as sanguine faunus are numerous.” 

“Well...those laws didn’t always exist. And they don’t exist outside of Menagerie. In the other kingdoms, we’re dealt with off the books. Our numbers are actually incredibly small, less than 35. Most people don’t even know that we exist! To most humans, we’re nothing but a legend...only the huntsmen schools teach about us. Frankly, it’s for the best that so few people know about it.”

Blake sighed and sat back, closing her eyes. 

> _ “I think it’s time to thin the herd, Blake.”  _
> 
> _ “It would be so easy. We would have all the blood we need, my love.” _
> 
> _ “It is only natural for the faunus to ascend above humanity. The vermin will die out.”  _

_ “If he is planning something...I have to stop him. I’m the only one that can.”  _ “I need to find out if the White Fang is involved in these dust robberies.”  _ “I’ll figure out my place after.”  _

”Well, the only way to prove that the White Fang isn’t behind this, is to go where they’d be if they were behind this….and not find them there!” Sun rubbed his head. “Woah..thinking that hard hurts.” 

Blake stood, dropping a few lien on the table. “Let’s go.”

***

Team RWY and JNPR sat quietly around a table in the dining hall, finishing their breakfast. The teams were determined to find their lost friend. Even Nora’s typically bubbly personality seemed muted. They all yawned and rubbed their tired eyes,  the consequence of their being made to clean the residence hall floors the night before . 

Velvet observed the table full of her underclassmen, noting the missing girl. It was obvious to her what Blake was and understood why she hid herself. With her rabbit ears, she never had the option to hide herself - she often wondered if she would, given the chance to. She gave Coco a quick kiss on the cheek, whispering, “I’ll be back in a bit. Going to talk to our kiddos.” 

Coco grinned and squeezed her hand. “Good luck.” 

Velvet quickly crossed the rows of tables and approached the group. She took a seat next to Pyrrha and across from Weiss. Weiss looked up at her, but quickly dropped her eyes to her bowl of yogurt when she realized who it was. “Hi Velvet,” she murmured. 

“Hello Weiss. Hello everyone. How are you all?” The group grumbled a range of responses and vague gestures. “Where’s Blake?” 

Weiss visibly wilted and set her spoon down. Yang scratched her arm and answered, “She ran out last night...not sure where she is right now. Or if she’s coming back.” 

“Let me guess...you found out?” 

Yang sat up straighter. “How did y- is there a way for faunus to recognize other faunus? What kind of faunus is she?” 

“There’s a number of ways, usually small cues. I’m not comfortable revealing her faunus trait, but I did want to encourage you all. If she’s hiding herself, it’s because she’s afraid of how you’ll react.” Again, Weiss flinched hard. “You just need to find her and let her know how you feel about her.” 

“Is she sanguine?” Weiss blurted. Velvet fixed her with a look. Weiss could see Yang’s eyes blur red from the corner of her vision. “I mean..I...never mind. Sorry.” She vigorously shook her head. “If you’re willing, could we meet later? I’m afraid I don’t know what’s true about the faunus anymore.”

“Of course, Weiss. I would love to help you.”

Ruby leaned forward to look past the others at Velvet. “We’ll find her, Velvet. Thank you for the encouragement!” 

“Good luck.” 

***

“Blakeeeeee! Bllllaaaaake!”  
_ “Where could she have gone? Is this because I wasn’t a good enough leader?” _

 

“Blake? Blake?”  
_ “Please...give me a second chance…” _

 

“Blakey! Where are you?”  
_ “Not you too, Blake...don’t leave me…” _

 

RWY and JNPR wandered through Vale, asking passersby if they’d seen their friend. Weiss trailed at the back of the group, an uncharacteristic slouch in her posture. 

“Don’t worry, Weiss! We’ll find her-oof!” Ruby was knocked onto her butt, by a familiar redhead.

“Salutations, Ruby!” Penny said, in her uniquely strange way. “I’m happy to see you!” 

“It’s nice to see you too...Penny!”

“What are you doing here?”

“We’re looking for our friend, Blake. She ran away yesterday...and we’re worried about her.” 

“Oh, you mean the faunus girl,” Penny realized. 

The rest of the group of young huntresses stared blankly at this bizarre redhead, all asking themselves the same question. 

“How...did you know that?”

“Uh, the cat ears?” she responded, pointing to the top of her head.

“What cat ears? She always wears… a...bow…oh.”  
“Kitty ears?”  
“She does like tuna a lot.” 

“I would love to assist you in your search!” 

“Oh! No thank you Penny, we can find her ourselves! It’s more of a...team thing, I think.” 

“I understand. Until next time friend!” 

***

Night had fallen on the Valen SDC Docks, which were completely deserted for the day. SDC hired security sparsely patrolled the edges of the property.  _ “They really didn’t hire many, despite the string of thefts…”  _ Blake thought to herself, peeking over the edge of a building.  _ “Why wouldn’t they have more security...or hire hunters…”  _ A group of middle aged security guards slowly passed below her hiding place, chatting blithely about their wives.  _ “I bet Schnee has insured these shipments against loss...if the dust is stolen here in Vale, they get paid anyway. Demand for dust rises due to the shortage...win-win for the SDC…”  _

SDC dust was an incredibly  enticing  target of the criminal underworld and, in these racially tense times, it was easy to blame the loss on faunus. Many bought into the easy accusation thrown at the distrusted mutants. 

Sun leapt to the roof, joining Blake in watching over the shipyard. “Did I miss anything?” 

She sighed. “Not really. They’ve offloaded the crates from the boat...that’s about it.” 

He offered an apple. “I stole us some food!” 

“Do you always break the law so carelessly?”

“Weren’t you in a cult or something?” Blake’s eyes narrowed.”Sorry...too soon I guess.” 

“You kn-” Blake tried, but was interrupted by an approaching vehicle.  She held up a hand to indicate that Sun should keep silent as well, not exactly trusting her companion to take the hint otherwise.

An unmarked bullhead hovered by, engines running on low. The wing doors opened, revealing a squad of soldiers in white grimm masks - the White Fang. 

“No…” Blake murmured. “Please no…”

“Is that them?”

“Yes...that’s them.” 

“You really didn’t think it was them, did you..”  Sun rose to a half crouch, before Blake grabbed his arm. She continued to intently watch the crowd of faunus spread out across the shipyard, examining the containers. 

“Alright, you animals! Let’s get this over with.” The man’s voice was as distinctive as his silly hat. Roman Torchwick strolled out of the bullhead, shouting orders at the White Fang grunts. 

“Torchwick? What is he doing here with the White Fang? They would never work with humans.” Despite herself, she let out a sigh of relief - there was no sign of Adam. The White Fang moved quickly to load up the SDC crates onto the bullhead. 

“Blake what are we going to do?” 

“We need to stop them. Wait here until the fighting starts.” 

“Okay…” Sun responded uneasily. His tail swished around agitatedly, but he sat back and readied his staff. 

Roman stood with a hand on his hip, smoking a cigar and keeping watch over the operation. He was too busy grumbling to himself to notice Blake morphing out of the shadows behind him. She slipped Gambol Shroud’s katana around his arm and rested it firmly on his throat. 

“Woah! What the fuck!?” Roman sputtered. A group of nearby Fang members leveled their weapons at the intruder. 

Blake reached up and undid the bow on her head, revealing her cat ears. “Brothers and sisters of the White Fang. Why are you aiding this human scum?” 

The group of revolutionaries lowered their weapons, noticing the feline ears perched on Blake’s head. 

Roman chucked. “Haven’t you heard? The White Fang and I have joined forces for a joint venture.” 

“What do you need all this dust for? Tell me or I’ll put an end to your little operation right now!” she hissed, increasing the pressure against his throat. The dark blade pressed into his aura, causing it to flare and spark. 

He grunted, feeling his aura rapidly drain. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘little’,” he managed to respond. Almost as if on cue, three more bullheads came in low and fast. 

Taking advantage of her distraction, Roman fired his cane at Blake’s feet. The explosion sent her tumbling through the air, landing her a short distance away. She groaned and got to her feet, realizing she  had lost her weapon. Roman stalked toward her, doing his best evil laugh. His advance was rudely interrupted by a banana peel smacking his face. 

~~~

The explosions and sounds of fighting sounded through the air five blocks away. Ruby turned toward the noise, spotting a rising cloud of black smoke. “Oh no…let’s go everyone.” RWY and JNPR ran toward the fading smoke, pulling out their weapons. The reached the shipyard within a minute.

“Docks...there was likely a dust shipment today,” Weiss thought out loud. 

“Dust? Torchwick!” Ruby growled. The orange man had slipped her once before, she wasn’t going to let that happen again. 

“Do you think Blake is here?” Pyrrha asked. 

In response, the familiar sound of Gambol Shroud barked over the din, firing faster than they had ever heard before. “Yep, she’s here,” Yang decided. 

Pyrrha squeezed Ruby’s shoulder. “We’ll watch the perimeter and make sure no one escapes. If you need help, just call us.” JNPR knew that this was something they should stay out of, if possible. The future of team RWBY would be determined here. 

Ruby nodded slowly. “Thanks Pyrrha. Weiss and Yang, you two go straight in and get to Blake. Help her with whatever is going on. I’ll be on overwatch.” She disappeared into her red tornado and sped through the air to the top of the nearest warehouse. 

~~~

Sun leapt through the air and kicked Roman in the face, knocking him back into a group of faunus. Roman shouted in annoyance, the faunus joining ranks around him. He looked to his sides laughing - a ten-on-one fight. “You’re not the brightest banana in the bunch are you?” 

Sun grinned and shrugged in response.  _ “They’d need a few more for this to be a fair fight,”  _ he laughed internally. He pulled out his weapon, Ruyi Jingu Bang in staff form. Roman stood back and let the White Fang charge in first, waiting to see what this monkey could do. 

At first, Sun didn’t even bother to use his weapon, baiting each WF member to attack. A simple dodge, an elbow to the head, maybe a flip or two - 5 faunus down and unconscious. The others rushed in all at once, swinging their swords at him. He ducked and spun his staff behind his back, sweeping the legs from the three behind him. The momentum launched him into a back spin, kicking the last faunus to the ground. Spun to his feet and slammed the butt of his staff into the ground, using the burst of energy to knock them out. 

Roman groaned and pointed his cane at Sun’s head. The monkey faunus easily blocked the explosive bolt and grinned mockingly at the gangster. “This fucking monkey,” he grumbled. 

Blake started to run towards the fight, before realizing that Sun could handle himself - she needed to stop the others from taking the dust. She sprinted through the shadows of the crates toward the waiting bullheads.  _ “No need to hold back here…” _ she thought, drawing four clones from the shadows. The sensitive hearing of the faunus loading the expensive dust tipped them off to the approaching black blur. 

Blake and her clones dove from shadow to shadow, a tide of amber-eyed demons, overrunning the group of faunus before they could react.  S he ripped through the pack and knocked them out with gut-punches and  head-kicks . The aircraft started to lift off, trying to escape the one woman army.  One of her shadows pressed her retrieved weapon into her hand, which she pointed into the air  and feathered her fingers on the trigger. The rapid fire tore through the engine closest to her, explosions chaining through the fuel tanks set in the wing. The unbalanced hunk of aluminum flipped and spun into the pitch black water beyond the docks. 

Just barely, thanks to her incredibly sensitive ears, Blake could hear the approach of footsteps that she could identify in her sleep.  _ “...I can’t have them seeing me like this..not when they already hate me..”  _ She dispelled her shadows, dimming the intense glow of her eyes that accompanied all of her sanguine powers. Her teammates might accept her as a faunus, but her hands shook at the thought of revealing further. 

~~~

Weiss and Yang cautiously jogged down a dark alley between warehouses. They glanced at each other, realizing they’d be going in together. “Weiss...sorry for reacting so harshly to you yesterday. You’re not the princess we all met on our first day here.”

Weiss shook her head. “I might have done the same thing if someone pointed their weapon at Ruby. I may...I might have a bit of a temper.” 

Yang laughed. “So do I!” 

The pair nodded to each other and took off silently down a row of crates toward the sounds of fighting. It was hard to tell who was winning, but they could hear the frequent and familiar sound of Gambol Shroud. From her sniper’s perch, Ruby opened her scroll to communicate with her team. “Weiss, Yang! Blake is straight ahead, she’s surrounded by a bunch of White Fang! And...huh...there’s that faunus from earlier, with the monkey tail. He seems to be fighting against Torchwick! Ugh Torchwick is here! We need to capture him!” 

“We’ve got it, sis. I’ll head for Roman. Weiss, you help Blake.” Yang gave the heiress one last look, before peeling off down another row. 

Weiss could hear the sounds of fighting drawing closer. She wanted, she  _ needed  _ to be beside Blake.  She skated forward on a glyph, around the corner of the final crate. She flew into the clearing, knocking White Fang grunts aside.  _ “This is my teammate - I would fight beside her….and die for her, faunus or not.”  _ She cleared the area behind Blake and took a defensive position behind her.

“Weiss…” 

“We’re here to help, Blake. Yang is fighting Torchwick. Ruby’s on backup. What’s going on?”

Blake blasted a few more  henchmen away. “They’re trying to take a dust shipment. I don’t know what for, but  it’s a lot of it.” 

Weiss looked past the group of faunus that pointed their weapons at her. “Those are bulk shipments - they’re usually split into smaller ones here. They’re expensive so they’re usually shipped unlisted.”

“We’ll figure it out later, first we need to try to stop them.” 

Weiss formed a large glyph below Blake, powering her up with a bit of time dilation. Blake let loose a barrage of slashes by pulsing her aura. The flurry of time-altered energy split apart the second of the three bullheads in the area, crashing to the ground in four pieces. 

Ruby watched through her scope at the crowds of White Fang at the last aircraft. She fired Crescent Rose as fast as she could clear the chamber, ripping the aura away from the crowd of grunts. Only a few managed to hide behind the box they were loading, escaping unseen sniper fire. She grinned happily, finally getting to use her heavy gravity rounds. She put one of them into the side of the bullhead, caving in the wall of the aircraft hold.  _ “Oooh that is so satisfying.”  _ She hit it with one more, just to be safe. With the final aircraft nothing but a crumpled wreckage, the White Fang could no longer escape with the dust. 

~~~

If Sun was being entirely truthful, he was playing with his food. Roman may be an excellent fighter, but he wasn’t better than Sun. Roman barely managed to hang on, frantically blocking blow after blow. Deciding it was best to end things at this point, Sun feinted at his left and slipped under his block.

 

Roman doubled over as Sun’s staff struck hard at his stomach, causing his aura to flicker faintly - he was reaching his limit. Suddenly, one of the mutts friends with yellow hair came barreling out of nowhere, blasting Roman’s chest in with a mighty punch to the sternum.

With the air knocked out of his lungs, Torchwick couldn’t groan in pain as he soared through the air into a metal container.  _ “These fucking kids...keep getting weirder.”  _ The sound of sniper fire and destroyed escape options grabbed his attention. His eyes were easily drawn to the red hooded figure and scythe perched on a nearby warehouse.  _ “Red…”  _ He laboriously got to his feet and hit the emergency evac button on his scroll. “Oh hi Red! Isn’t it past your bedtime?” he managed to wheeze . 

 

Three more bullheads drifted to a stop above the shipyard, the thrum of the engines almost deafening. The hatches opened, revealing more White Fang - who immediately opened fire on the little red figure on the roof. Ruby gritted her teeth, multiple bullets hitting her aura, causing it to drop into the red.  _ “He sure does hate me….”  _

Pyrrha vaulted the edge of the building and dove to Ruby. She wrapped her in a hug, covering both their bodies with Akoúo̱. “Are you okay Ruby?” 

Ruby blushed slightly, feeling Pyrrha’s muscled arms around her as she pulled the shorter girl into her chest. “Y-yeah, thanks Pyrrha! Here, I’ll speed us out of here.” She turned around in Pyrrha’s hold and activated her semblance, zipping away with her fellow leader. 

~~~

Yang regarded the shirtless monkey faunus. “I’m Yang. I think we saw you earlier yesterday?”

“Yeah! I’m Sun.” 

They wordlessly turned back to  the now -rasping Torchwick. Two more squads of faunus descended to his side. “Get them!” 

Yang raised her gauntlets. Sun separated Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. The blondes filled the air with a wall of buckshot. Roman grabbed a faunus grunt and used him as a shield. Instantly, the ground was full of aura-depleted faunus. 

Ruby flew like a rocket through the air and landed next to her sister. Weiss and Blake came around the corner, weapons ready. The remaining White Fang backed away from the menacing group of young huntresses.  

“Ice Bouquet!” Ruby cried.

Ruby,  flanked by  Blake and Yang on each side, stood in front of Weiss and aimed their guns downrange. Weiss flicked her dust revolver to azure, forming three glyphs in front of her teammates. The three opened fire, shooting through Weiss’ ice-forming glyphs. The grunts screamed as they were hit repeatedly, ice crystals rapidly forming on their bodies until they could move no longer. They turned their fire on the nearest bullhead until it dropped from the sky, weighted down with ice. 

The remaining two aircraft opened fire on them,  but Sun and Weiss were able to block off their  assault . Roman slipped away under the cover of the attack and stepped aboard the bullhead that swooped down to pick him up. “Let’s go!” Smoke bombs dropped from the open bays, filling the air with acrid and blinding smog. 

Eventually, the smoke cleared enough for them to get their bearings, but not before the sound of the bullhead turbines had long faded. 

Ruby checked her scroll - all of them were uninjured with plenty of aura to spare. “Yay! Good work team!” Ruby cheered. “Well..I mean they got away, but still.”

Blake drop her head and turned to face her team. “I’m sor-”

Ruby and Yang tackled Blake, Ruby latching on around her waist, Yang with her arms wrapped around her, hoisting them in the air. Blake felt herself tearing up. “I’m sorry for running. I shouldn’t have...I didn’t think you’d want to be around me anymore.”

“Blake…” Weiss started, approaching hesitantly. “Of course we want you back. I want to apologize for earlier. I’ve had some time to think about it and I realized that I might have been wrong...about the faunus. I’m sorry for the way that I treated you and...I will try to learn more. With your help, if you are willing.”

Blake mirrored the look that the sisters gave her earlier - Did  _ Weiss Schnee _ just apologize for something? “Weiss...thank you...I’d be happy to help you.  And I want you to know that I’m no longer associated with the W-” 

Weiss held up her hand. “You don’t have to tell me now. We can all talk when you’re ready.” 

Blake’s eyes immediately started to tear up. She poked Yang until she let her down and slowly stepped forward and embraced Weiss, squeezing her gently. The heiress closed her eyes and returned the hug, thinking  _ “I really do care about her...father is wrong about the faunus.”  _

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate any comments!


End file.
